Collection Guide
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Simon Martin-Vegue Winkelstein Moris (SMWM) Collection
2013.-01
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Table of contents
Contributing Institution:
University of California, Berkeley. College of Environmental Design. Environmental Design Archives
Title: Simon Martin-Vegue Winkelstein Moris (SMWM) Collection
Identifier/Call Number: 2013.-01
Physical Description:
250 Linear Feet:
120 cartons, 68 document boxes, 47 oversize flat boxes, 230 tubes, 8 oversize rolls, 8 flat file drawers, 14 models; 4 terabytes
(1246 individual born digital objects)
Physical Description:
4 Terabytes:
1246 individual born-digital objects
Date (inclusive): 1945-2020
Date (bulk): 1985-2008
Language of Material:
English
.
Collection is open for research. Many of the Environmental Design Archives collections are stored offsite and advance notice
is required for use. Digital files are available with advanced request in the Environmental Design Archives (EDA) reading
room and are not available online.
[Identification of Item], Title, SMWM Collection, 2013-01, Environmental Design Archives, College of Environmental Design,
University of California, Berkeley.
SMWM (Simon Martin-Vegue Winkelstein Moris), was one of the largest women-owned, pioneering design firm when it began in San
Francisco in 1985, eventually adding a second office in New York in 2001. In 2008, the company merged with the firm Perkins
+ Will, operating under its moniker.
In 1985, architects Cathy Simon, Peter Winkelstein, Lamberto Moris, interior designer Phyllis Martin-Vegue, and Diane Filippi
split from the San Francisco architecture firm Marquis Associates to form SMWM. The founding partners had worked together
at Marquis Associates for over a decade and brought together a large portfolio of completed and in-process projects, both
architecture and interior design. The partners' vision was to create a truly integrated and interdisciplinary practice with
a focus on collaborative, contextual design with a social purpose.
SMWM's design legacy is apparent throughout the Bay Area and beyond. The firm's award-winning portfolio consists of educational
projects including work for the University of California Berkeley, Davis, and Santa Cruz campuses; the San Francisco Conservatory
of Music, four buildings at Bard College, and many Bay Area independent K-12 schools; public projects include Pier 1, and
the San Francisco Main Library, as well as public libraries in Newport Beach and Cupertino, California; master plans for Stanford,
Harvard, Brown, Bard, and NYU; and urban planning projects for the Mission Bay and Hunters Point districts in San Francisco,
and Boston's Central Artery. Two SMWM projects, Treasure Island and Panama Pacifico, were selected among only 16 multifaceted
initiatives across the world by the Clinton Foundation as part of the Clinton Climate Change Initiative Program. The firm's
commitment to creating vibrant and enduring places that bring long-term value to clients and communities respects the past,
engages with the present, and anticipates the future. In a city that is often resistant to change, SMWM became a trusted firm
with regenerative designs that include the complete renovation and transformation of the landmark San Francisco Ferry Building,
a temporary pavilion for the San Francisco Ballet, and laying the groundwork for a new Transbay Terminal.
Cathy Simon, FAIA, was the President, Director of Design, and one of the five founding partners of SMWM. She is known for
her new buildings, adaptive reuse and urban design projects, including the conversion of the San Francisco Ferry Building,
the San Francisco Main Library, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Simon was born in Los Angeles, grew up in Greenwich
Village New York, and attended Wellesley College, graduating in 1965 with a Bachelor of Arts in Art History. She received
her Masters of Architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design in 1969. Simon began her career working for Cambridge
Seven Architects from 1968-1973, then moved to the Bay Area and worked for Mackinlay Winnaker McNeil Architects from 1973
until 1974. Simon was a designer for Marquis Associates from 1974-1975, Associate from 1975-1978, and Principal from 1978-1985.
At Marquis Associates, she designed projects such as the Primate House at the San Francisco Zoo, the Stern Hall addition at
UC Berkeley, and the historic restoration of the Chambord Apartments in San Francisco. She was a lecturer at the UC Berkeley
College of Environmental Design (CED) from 1973 until 1985. In 1996, Simon was the first woman to be named CED's Howard Friedman
Distinguished Professor of Architecture in Practice. Simon received numerous awards for her design work, including becoming
a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects in 1986, the Firm Award from the AIA California Council in 1999, and multiple
state and national awards for her work on the Ferry Building. In 2015 she was the William A. Bernoudy Architect in Residence
at the American Academy in Rome. In 2008, when SMWM joined Perkins + Will, Simon became a senior design principal and worked
as such until her retirement in 2018. She maintains a small practice as Cathy Simon FAIA Architecture and Urbanism.
Karen Alschuler, FAICP, joined SMWM in 1992 to build an urban design and planning practice for the firm. Her projects addressed
urgent issues for urban places, waterfronts, and transportation centers unique to their settings and welcoming to diverse
populations and include a Master Plan for Boston's Central Artery Corridor, and designs for the Southeast Federal Center and
the Transbay Terminal Improvement Plan in San Francisco. Alschuler was born in Illinois and graduated from Pembroke College
(part of Brown University) in 1967. She received her Masters of City Planning in 1969 from UC Berkeley College of Environmental
Design and began working for the County of Santa Cruz as a senior planner from 1969-1974. Alschuler moved to Boston to work
for Skidmore Owings and Merrill as a planner and associate from 1974-1981, Associate Partner 1981-1987, and Planning Partner
from 1987-1991. She worked for SOM as a Director, in both their Boston and New York offices, until 1992 when she joined SMWM
and moved to San Francisco. As Director of Planning for SMWM, Alschuler oversaw all planning and urban design projects. She
directed a wide variety of planning efforts, including: urban mixed-use developments; suburban master plans; design guidelines;
economic development strategies; open space plans; transportation planning for highways, transit, airports and water shuttles;
waterfront plans; campus plans; and numerous large scale environmental impact assessment and permitting programs. Alschuler
invented the "planning game"—a well-known and respected tool for bringing community members and developers together to collaborate
on the design process. San Francisco Bay Area projects included: Treasure Island, Mission Bay, the Presidio, Transbay Terminal
and the Concord base reuse plan. Nationally, projects include: campus plans for Brown University, Harvard University, and
NYU; master plans for the Southeast Federal Center in Washington DC, Boston Central Artery, and the Museums of New Mexico.
Alschuler was very involved in professional organizations, including: Commercial Real Estate Women, Urban Land Institute,
and was elected a Fellow of the American Institute of Certified Planners in 2004. When SMWM joined Perkins + Will in 2008,
Alschuler became a Partner and a Global Discipline Leader for Urban Design at the firm. She is semi-retired and still works
part-time on special projects for Perkins + Will.
The SMWM collection consists of manuscript materials (project files, marketing materials, correspondence, meeting notes, final
reports, notebooks, etc.), drawings, photographs (including slides and photographs), and born digital items created by the
design firm SMWM. The collection is organized into six series: Personal Papers, Professional Records, Faculty Papers, Office
Records, Architecture Project Records, and Planning and Urban Design Project Records. The materials are centered on the two
main principal designers-- Cathy Simon and Karen Alschuler-- and the project records also contain the work of the other SMWM
principals and associated designers and planners.
The Personal Papers series includes resumes and biographical information for both Cathy Simon and Karen Alschuler, as well
as some personal correspondence, travel slides, photographs, and a some student work from Simons' work at Harvard Graduate
School of Design and Alschulers' work at UC Berkeley's College of Environmental Design.
The Professional Papers series includes writings and professional presentations by Simon, Alschuler, and other SMWM partners
and associates. The series also includes notes and materials associated with Simon and Alschuler particiption in architecture
and planning juries, correspondence, and awards applied for and received for SMWM projects. The series also contains multiple
boxes of research materials, mainly from Alschuler, which shows the progression of the planning and urban design profession
from the early 1970s until the early 2000s. Handwritten notebooks from both Simon and Alschuler are also included in this
series; additional notebooks can also be found filed with specific projects in Series V (Architecture Project Records) and
Series VI (Planning and Urban Design Project Records).
The Faculty Papers series consists mainly of Simon's teaching work with the UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design. Items
include sylabi, correspondence, and a few pieces of student work. This series also contains materials and correspondence between
Simon and the Harvard Graduate School of Design, encompassing the years 1979-2008, when she was involved in Alumni Affairs
and other events with the GSD.
The Office Records series contains materials collected pertaining to the administrative activities of the firm including:
marketing and publicity brochures, newspaper and journal clippings, presentation materials, correspondence, and limited financial
records. The largest sub-series is Photographs and Slides, which includes transparencies, publicity photographs, and slides
from projects worked on by SMWM, as well as projects Simon designed at Marquis Associates and projects Alschuler worked on
at SOM. Additional photographs and slides can be found in their respective project sub-series.
The Architecture Project Records series includes project materials from design projects Cathy Simon worked on as part of Marquis
Associates, indepenently, as part of SMWM, and after the merger with Perkins + Will. These projects include manuscript material,
correspondence, meeting notes, historic preservation reports, drawings (including, in many cases, sketches, concept drawings,
design development, presentation materials, and final construction sets).The series also contains photographs and slides,
models, and some design notebooks, separated by project. Many of the projects also contain born digital items, which are listed
under each project. Access to digital files on original carriers is prohibited; users will be provided with access copies.
Technical limitations may hinder the EDA's ability to provide access to some digital files. Please contact the EDA for more
information about the born digital materials.
The Planning and Urban Desing Project Records series includes project materials from planning projects Karen Alschuler worked
on as part of SOM, independently, as part of SMWM, and after the merger with Perkins + Will. These projects include manuscript
materials, correspondence, meeting notes, precedent reports, interim and final reports, drawings (including sketches, site
analysis, alternatives development, and final plans). The series also contains photogrphs and slides, models, and some notebooks,
separated by project. Materials associated with The Planning Game are also included in this series-- the materials could include
game pieces, photographs and slides, finished Game workshop panels, introductory materials, and follow up materials. Many
of the projects also contain born digital items, which are listed under each project. Access to digital files on original
carriers is prohibited; users will be provided with access copies. Technical limitations may hinder the EDA's ability to provide
access to some digital files. Please contact the EDA for more information about the born digital materials.
The collection is arranged in six series: Personal Papers, Professional Papers, Faculty Papers, Office Records, Architecture
Project Records, and Planning and Urban Design Project Records. Within each manuscript series (Series I-IV), the archivist
has imposed order where original order was not evident. For the Project Record Series (Series V - VI), the projects are arranged
in alphabetical order according to client name or name of the project (for example, the Ferry Building). Please note that
photographs and slides are physically located in two places in the collection: within the project records as part of the project
files themselves, and photographs and slides in the office records series.
Note on digital media: Media such as compact discs, floppy disks, and zip disks were numbered in the order in which they were
found in the collection. A piece of media (a CD for example) is essentially a container holding files, similar to the physical
cartons holding paper-based materials. The original file structures contained on each piece of media were maintained and recreated
through logical copies created by the Data Accessioner software. Disk images were also created using AccessData FTK Imager.
Media is noted within the Project Files series (V and VI) under the project they are associated with. Files include photographs
of projects, drawings, presentation files, and video files.
Robert B. Marquis Collection, 2009-04, Environmental Design Archives. College of Environmental Design. University of California,
Berkeley.
Walter Hood Collection, 2014-09, Environmental Design Archives, College of Environmental Design, University of California,
Berkeley.
Robert Vignolo Collection, 2010-05, Environmental Design Archives. College of Environmental Design. University of California,
Berkeley.
Robert N. Royston collection, 1999-12, Environmental Design Archives. College of Environmental Design. University of California,
Berkeley.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Architects -- California.
Architects -- California -- San Francisco Bay Area.
Women architects
Urban planning
City planning.
Campus planning.